


it'll be ok

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Quest (Video Game)
Genre: (it's in the past though), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Influenza, Sickfic, Team Dad Orik, this mostly exists because I wanted it to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26796997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: Contents of the Author's Brain:"I like found family...I like sickfic...I'm gonna stick them together. Yeah."
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Two days ago this did not exist outside my brain, and now the doc I'm composing this fic in is at like, 2.6k? What even
> 
> Content warning for a non-descriptive mention of vomiting, but it's short and only like two lines. I know some people don't like seeing that without any warning so I thought I'd mention it

Tarah couldn’t sleep. She didn’t feel well, hadn’t felt well since earlier this evening, and just couldn’t get comfortable.

She'd already been tossing and turning and not being able to sleep, but it felt like it had just gotten leagues worse. No position made her stop shuddering from chills or not ache or just not feel so awful all over. She was pondering waking her brother up or maybe even Orik for help when a sick feeling started creeping up the back of her throat and she flung herself out of her bed, scrambling for the trash bin.

"Tarah?" She was vaguely aware of Thayne slipping out of bed and to her side, and more aware of the paw placed on her back comfortingly.

Well, violently upchucking her dinner and possibly lunch too was one way to wake her twin up for help. One she wouldn't have picked if she had any say, but it appeared her body thought otherwise. She coughed and held back a whine when it tore at her throat. "D-dangit…"

Thayne hummed a little bit and hugged her, firmly but carefully. This wasn't new for either of them, the main difference here was that they were in a place that was warm, safe, and dry.

There was a soft tap on the door and it began to open, making Thayne reflexively pull Tarah close in a more protective hold and glare daggers at whoever was entering while Tarah tried to hide and seem smaller. "Stay back!" he growled.

The unfortunate recipient of Thayne's death glare was a concerned Orik, who flinched a bit at the sight. "It's just me, I came to check on you two…" he said softly.

Seeing it was just Orik, Tarah poked her head up and Thayne relaxed slightly. He stayed protectively close and didn't release his sister, however. Old habits died hard.

Orik knelt down next to the twins. Seeing Thayne this on guard and watching his every move was bizarrely intimidating but not enough to deter Dad Instincts. "Tarah, what's wrong?"

She tried to think of some witty, deflective comeback but couldn't come up with anything. "I don't feel good…"

Orik reached over, hesitating at the acidic look Thayne was giving him. "I'm not going to hurt her, Thayne, I just want to feel for a fever." The look in the boy's eyes softened and Orik reached over to feel her forehead. "Hmm, you feel warm...what hurts?"

"Yes." Not... quite the reply he was expecting, he'd been hoping for something a touch more specific but he'd take what he could get.

"Just… hurting all over?" he guessed.

"Yeah." She wiggled a bit, more to indicate to her brother that she wanted him to let go of her. Her confidence was enough to settle Thayne's worries and he calmed down, watching Orik with more normal curiosity instead of fearful suspicion.

As Tarah reached over to hold onto Orik's arm (currently in a nighttime brace instead of a makeshift sling), he asked, "What about you, Thayne? I don't want you to feel ignored."

"I'm okay," he mumbled, clearly more focused on his sister's condition.

"Do you want to try to move yet, Tarah?"

"Yeah, I think I'm done puking." Or at least for now, she figured. "Can I have a drink?"

"Of course, I'll get you water while I'm grabbing some other stuff for you." It was probably unnecessary but he guided and helped Tarah back to bed anyway. "Thayne, can you keep an eye on her while I go get some things?"

He nodded and said "Yeah" as he climbed onto the bed to sit with her. He wouldn't have left Tarah's side anyway.

* * *

"Tarah, please let me take your temperature." 

"You already know I'm sick!" she snapped, ducking under the blanket where Orik couldn't get to her. "You don't need to."

Orik moved the blanket, only for her to dart off in a different direction. "I want to keep track in case it gets worse, I can't do that with just my hand." He also could not wrangle an uncooperative child with only one arm, especially while trying to not break a glass thermometer in his hand. Even while undoubtedly sick Tarah was putting up enough of a fight. Thayne was of no help and mostly stayed back, staring Orik down in case the man crossed a line. 

"Uh-uh!" Back against the headboard, she shoved her pillow between them. 

He pushed it back down at her. "It isn't that hard, you just have to hold this in your mouth for two minutes! That's _all_ ," he said, his voice starting to show strain despite his efforts.

Tarah stopped squirming and struggling immediately and let the pillow drop. "Oh." 

It was at that point Orik remembered that there were several ways to take a temperature, some of them less pleasant than others but often used on very small bots that are too young to properly cooperate. "I'm not going to stick this in one of the steam vents in your shoulders or anything," he said with a sigh. "Will you let me put this in your mouth?"

"Yeah," she said, meekly sitting back up. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"I completely _forgot_ there were other ways, I've been living by myself for too long," Orik muttered, setting the thermometer in her mouth and then proceeded to rub the top of her head. "There, just sit like that for a few minutes."

"Mmm."

Nothing interesting or noteworthy happened in the intervening time, Orik just quietly held Tarah and stroked the top of the tired child's head while Thayne cuddled up to the two of them. 

"Alright, it's been long enough now." Orik had spoken in a soft voice but it still made Tarah jump. Evidently she'd begun to doze off...

After all that trouble to get her to cooperate, Orik found the results to be roughly what he expected. Yes, she was warmer than she should be, no, it was not enough to be a cause for alarm. The fact he had a definitive answer put his own concerns to rest, though.

He handed her the little cup of water in time for her cough to return. "Here, you can have this now, it would've interfered with the reading I got." He'd also gotten Thayne his own drink just because.

While the two of them were preoccupied with their water, Orik grabbed the medicine bottle he'd retrieved earlier and double-checked the label to make sure it’d be ok to give to her. It looked like it, just give her a smaller dose than an adult. 

“What’s that?” Tarah had put her water aside and was watching him, curious but a touch wary about the bottle.

“Just some medicine, your fever isn’t high enough to need it but it might help some.”

She kept staring the weird bottle down. "Is that supposed to make me better?"

"It's more to make you comfortable enough to rest, but yes. I won't force you to take it if you don't want to, it's just an offer."

Her eyes flitted between Orik and the medicine before she decided to take it. "Tastes like dirt and lies," she grumbled as she handed the cap back to Orik.

"They're not from me, and since I've taken this before and it helped I don't think they're from the brewer, either. Maybe the person who labeled the flavor..." he mused, prompting a giggle out of both of the twins. He put the bottle aside where he wouldn't forget where it was. "Hopefully you'll start feeling a little better soon."

Orik made half an attempt to not yawn and failed. It was the middle of the night, they all needed the sleep right now. "Do you need me to stay for a little longer?"

Tarah shook her head and settled back down to try to rest. Orik took the blanket and started messing with it and adjusting it over her for some reason. She paused and asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m tucking you in?” Orik said, openly confused. The blank stares he got from the twins didn’t help. Come to think of it, he hadn’t actually done so before (although he had been very tempted in the past), and from what he’s heard about the people at the orphanage, they probably never did either…

“Oh, that’s what that is.”

 _They might’ve never been tucked in before._ It felt like Orik had been whacked in the gut although he tried to brush it off for now. “Yes… there are some things I take for granted, sometimes I forget how different your lives have been…” He smoothed the blanket down over Tarah and walked to the other side of the bed so he could tuck Thayne in too. 

“But I’m ok,” Thayne said. “I’m not sick…”

“You don’t need to be sick to be tucked in, you two just usually put yourselves to bed and I didn’t want to make you feel left out,” Orik explained while tucking Thayne in. He stood up once the twins were settled. “I’ll leave you to rest now, if that’s ok.”

Thayne looked over at his sister, then nodded to answer for the both of them.

“Alright, try to get some sleep...that includes you, Thayne,” Orik said. He got a little grunt out of him in response. He didn’t need to be exhausting himself watching over his sister.

As he turned to leave, Tarah cleared her throat. “...thank you,” she whispered.

Orik couldn’t help but turn back really quickly with a soft smile. “You’re welcome, helping you two is never a problem.” He shut the door behind him with a soft _click._

Both twins hunkered down into place, seeking each other’s presence and comfort like they had for as long as they could remember. Tarah, fortunately, nodded off pretty quickly, although it took Thayne a little longer to settle.


	2. Chapter 2

Maybe it was just him settling into his role as a caregiver more, but Orik was finding himself wanting to check on the twins more often than before. He knew logically that they could fend for themselves, but they were still children. They shouldn’t  _ have _ to, and if him watching over them helped take the load off their little backs, it was worth it. 

Evidently it was Tarah's turn to not sleep as hard since her head was the one that popped up when he opened the door a bit to check on them. 

"Sorry, just checking," he whispered, about to shut the door.

“Wait!” Tarah reached for the door, lunging with enough force she faceplanted forward. It took her a moment to right herself. “Can you stay for a bit?”

He’d already stopped, but Tarah making that abrupt of a movement at him was more than enough to get his attention. “Yes, you don’t have to hurt yourself…” he said, walking over and sitting next to her. She scooted up to him and clung to his side, shuddering. “I know you don’t feel well, is there something else bothering you?”

“Thayne’s sleeping and I didn’t want to be by myself,” she mumbled. Orik noticed she was still trembling and breathing fast. “Bad dream.”

“You want to talk about it at all?” At the small shake of her head, Orik said, “That’s alright, you don’t have to if you aren’t up to it. Just know you’re safe here.”

Orik leaned against the bedframe so he’d be more comfortable and hugged Tarah to his chest. He could still provide comfort even if he didn’t know the details of what had upset her. Orik started humming a random tune he’d picked up from somewhere over the years while he rubbed the back of her head. Tarah could hear it reverberate through his chest next to the sounds of his steam-heart pumping and found it oddly soothing. 

Once Tarah was settled comfortably it only took a few minutes for her to start to calm back down. It had been a while since she’d had a bad dream feel that intense and leave her that rattled… but something about cuddling Orik made her feel better. Maybe it was the fact Orik was bigger than her and could surround her in a hug more than Thayne. She liked it.

* * *

“Okay I’m done now,” Tarah said after a while, rolling off Orik. Being coddled like that was nice and comforted Tarah in a way she hadn't realized she'd been missing, but now she wanted to sprawl out all over her pillow or flop on Thayne for a bit.

Orik got up and looked over at Thayne, finding the boy was still sleeping. He’d hardly even twitched while Orik and Tarah had been moving or talking. That didn't surprise him, not with how he'd been fussing over his sister earlier. He needed the rest. Thayne certainly  _ looked _ tired, to a degree Orik wasn't expecting, in fact. Something didn't seem right to him...

Orik rested the backs of his fingers on Thayne's cheek. He had a temperature, what felt like a slightly higher one than Tarah's, even. As though that alone wasn't enough for Orik to take note, Thayne grimaced at the touch and curled in on himself with a whine, although he didn't wake up.

Not having it in him to wake Thayne up, Orik adjusted the blankets and tucked him in with a soft sigh. He'd check in on him later when he was awake.

* * *

Several hours later (a few visits in the intervening time), Orik returned with water and to check on how the twins were doing. After a soft knock, he nudged the door open and found Tarah flopped on her pillow (which she had dragged further down the bed for whatever reason) and a lump in the blankets that was probably Thayne. "Hey… how are you doing?"

Tarah pushed herself up but didn't feel like sitting up all the way. "I didn't barf again, but that's it."

"It's something, I suppose," Orik murmured as he checked her forehead. "Not throwing everything up is a good start."

"I didn't wanna in the first place," she grumbled. Tarah started to say something else but ended up coughing into her discarded once-cold compress. Orik decided he didn't feel like telling her that wasn't its intended use right now and reached over to rub her back.

While Orik was muttering comforts, Thayne poked his head out from under the blankets to watch. He still looked tired in that unwell way like Orik noticed earlier. "Hi there," he said. "I brought more water. How do you feel?"

He emerged the rest of the way from the blankets and took some of the water with sluggish, clumsy motions. He drank just enough to appease Orik (based on watching him fuss over his sister), no more, and put the cup aside. He noticed Orik's concerned look and mumbled, "'m tired."

"Thayne…you were running a fever earlier but I didn't want to wake you up." And still was, Orik found as he brushed a hand across his forehead. "Are you not feeling ok?"

After a moment of deliberation, he leaned into Orik's touch and shook his head with a soft "Mm-mm". Hiding his symptoms was getting  _ exhausting _ …he rubbed away a tear before it could slide down his cheek.

Feeling his heart ache a bit, Orik scooted closer and wrapped an arm around him. For a moment Thayne looked surprised, but he quickly settled down without any complaint. "Do you think you're getting what Tarah has?"

"Y-yeah…" He closed his eyes and began tiredly fidgeting with a handful of Orik's robe.

"Have you been feeling sick for a while?" He didn't doubt Thayne was sick, but the fact his demeanor had changed so much upon him confirming it worried him a bit. 

"Mm-hmm… thought you wouldn't believe me so I didn't say anything…"

So he'd been hiding it for a while and had just now stopped, he wasn't suddenly becoming gravely ill in front of Orik's eyes like he had (perhaps irrationally) feared. "Why did you think I wouldn't believe you? I can't help if I don't know."

He hid his face in Orik's side with an unhappy grunt, prompting Tarah to explain, "The managers had it in their heads that only one of us could be sick at a time. Whenever we gave crud to each other they'd assume whoever got sick second was just faking it out of jealousy or something."

"'You're not sick, get up and go do your work,'" Thayne said in what Orik assumed was a mockery of one of the managers.

"What." Add that to the mental list of reasons Orik would kick the former managers' asses if he ever ran into them. It would already fill several pages at this point. 

"Yeah…" Tarah mumbled, looking down. "Like it was even worth the trouble, anyway."

Orik put a hand on Tarah's shoulder and looked between the two children. "Listen, I want both of you to know that I want little more than for you both to be safe, happy, and well. Part of that is listening and taking you seriously when you say something's wrong and helping you with it, okay? You know how you feel better than anyone else."

"Okay." Tarah crawled over and hugged Orik's free side, putting a paw over her brother's. It was hard for her to vocalize, but she felt safe with Orik around. Similar to the way it felt having her brother at her side, but not quite the same. Close, though, and that was something she didn't mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the written-out part but I've still got like a scene or two in bullet points. Dunno when I'll work on that again, just depends on whether I get distracted by something else or double down on writing more so I have something to brighten a friend's day.


End file.
